Electric furnace.



W. H. HAMPTON. ELECTRIC FURNAGE. APPLICATION FILED PERA?, 1913.

Patented Nov. 10, 1914.

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TION OF DELAWARE.

T0 all whom it may concern Be it known that WiLLrAM H. Hman Ton, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented new and useful Inirovements in Electric Furnaces, 'of which the following is a'specification. i

This invention relates to improvements in electrical metallurgical furnaces, the same being designed more especially 'for the reduction of iron ore.

One object of the invention is to provide a thoroughly practical and eflicient'furnace heated by resistance conductors for smelting iron ore without the use of air or a large amount of colreyfor supplying heat, the construction ofthe furnace enabling -1t to handle the material rapidly and in large quantities and to utilize the current to best advantage. l

The invention also comprises a combination of a reducing furnace and a refining furnace or hearth, both heated by non-metallic resistance elements out of contact'with the material, so that throughout the process the composition of the metal or alloy is unaffected by the carbon content of the conductors.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear hereinafter.

1n the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention: Figure 1 is a vertical section through the furnaces; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view illustrating one of the high resistance heating elements and the manner of connecting it with the' means for supplying it with current.

The apparatus is shown as comprising a reducing furnace 10 and a refining furnace or hearth 26. In the .furnace 10 the iron ore is reduced to malleable iron or other condition, dependent upon the composition of the charge, and collects in the hearth 12, whence it may be tapped oil from time to time, or continuously, through the exit, 13, and allowed to run through the gutter 14: to the refining furnace. Here the molten metal may be given such final treatment as ma be desired, a slag opening` 150and a door 15 being provided through which any remaining slag may be removed and by means of which materials may he intro- .duced to alter the composition of 'the metal.

Specification of Iletters Patent. Application filed February 17, 1913.l

` and as extending WILLIMH. HAMPTON, 0F NE'W YORK,.N. Y., ASSIGNOB TO THE C|')1\IL`.E1Yvv ELECTRIC FUBNACE C OMIPANY, INCORPORATED, OF WILMINGTON,

DELAWARE, A CORPORA- ntncfrmc rUaNAcE.

Patented Nov. 10, 1914.

semi No. 748,853.

Thus spiegeleisen or .othercarbon or metal bearing alloy may be added to the malleable iron, so that by fusing with it the carbon or other content of the malleable iron will be raised and a steel of any desired char acter produced.

The reducing nace of considerably less height than a blast furnace. Its shaft 11 gradually increases in width downwardly and does not terminatein a bosh. .At the bottom is the hearth 12, and above the hearth the interior walls of the furnace .are preferably substantially vertical. -These vertical walls preferably extend down to .the bottom of the furnace so as to inclose the hearth. The ore, which may goodadvantage to the process and without danger of loss by being blown away, since there is no blast, is fed into the top of the shaft through a suitable charging device 16, being mixed' with'limestone, or other flux, and the proper amount of coke for 'reduction, but without the large amount of carbon used in a blast furnace to burn in the air blast and thus furnish the heat necessary for the smelting. The furnacebeing closed to the access of air, though this does not mean that the top of the shaft must be sealed by a cover plate, and the reactions being those initiated or produced by the heat radiated from resistance conductors out of contact with the material, as presently described, the carbon content `ofthe metal that will collect in the hearth 12 can be predetermined with exactitude by the amount of carbon in the charge.

The heat to effect the smeltingis applied at a zone in the lower part of the 'furnace above the hearth. Here the charge is subjected to intense heat under which the iron oxid is reduced by the incandescent carbon and fuses. The carbon monoxid produced by the reaction rises through the charge in th'e shaft and there eiects some reduction of the higher to'lower oxide of iron. This zone of intense eating becomes the reducingzone, and it is here also where the fusion takes place. rfhe zone may be regarded as located at the level of the upper part of the lower vertical walled portion of the furnace somewhat abo-ve the lower end of the flared shaft portion. lt is heated by resistance bars, 17, '18 20 crossing its interior.

at the sides and 19, The bars 17, 18 are be ground line with y .shown straight, but it will bevobvious that with a circular furnace they could be curved or circular. The bars 17 and 18 are embedded in the side walls of the furnace, which are suitably. built of brickwork and are electrically non-conducting, andare protected from the action of the material-and conversely the materiall is protected from the resistance elements,`by suitable nonconducting acid,I basic or neutral linings 21 built into the inner faces of the walls and supported. thereby -independently of the resistance elements, so that the linings may be removed and yrepaired Iwithout, disturbing the latter.

The crossing conductors 19, are incased in a low wall 22 of material similar to the linings 21, or faced with such material,

'and this wall is substantially confined to the heating zone. The shaft of the furnace is left free and unobstructed by partitions and the upper edge of the wall 22 is ridged or tapered' so as to part,the material with minify mum obstruction to its descent. The crossing conductors are in the nature of plates disposed with their-sides vertical and are located in the wide portion of the shaft, which .terminates in a wide hearth. One or more of the walls 22, with resistance conductors therein, may be employed,- according to the size of the reduction chamber, butl in any event wide spaces are left between them and the vertical side walls for the free descent of the material, and furthermore, the `shaft is unconstricted, so that there is no danger of the charge bridging or choking at any point.

The resistance elements are of non-metallic character and' are preferably made of a composition ofclay and graphite, having the proportions 'of about forty per cent. (40%) of carbon to sixty per cent. (60%) of clay..V Such .conductors are of low-'conductivity and on the passage of a sufficient electriccurrent become .intensely hot, and their heat conducted radiated into theinterior produces a temperaturel unattainable lin a blast'furnace.

As indicated, the resistance elements sup'- plying heat to the region of fusion and reduction are, divided into two or more separate sets lying in vdi'erent zones. Thus the elements 17, 19, 17 constitute one set and the elements 18, 20, 18 another set. The members of each set may be `connected to the same bus-bars, 23 being the bus-bars for one set and 24' the bus-bars for the other set. These 'different sets of heaters in edect differentiate 'the general fusing and reducing, zone into zones. in the first of which the material is fused'by the heat furnished by the electrical resistance element and partly reduced by the-action of the reducing carbon, while in the next, the reduction is completed and the material rendered more duid so `and high resistance consisting of molasses and carbon, which on through the walls and that the. slag separates from the metal and off through a slag exit 25.

terial is more highly heated as it descends.

By separatelysupplying lthe two sets of elements with current it is possible to vary their heating effects independently and relatively to each other to obtain,v predetermined amounts of heat at definite, controllable temperatures instead of depending upon the unce tainties'of fuel; and in general the provision of separatev heaters, one above the other, enablesthe electric current to be utilized to greatest advantage for smelting of the ore.

I shown more particularly in Fig. 3, the high resistance elements are'connected tolow resistance terminals 27, preferably of pure carbon, by intermediateZ members 28 into which the resistance elements and tlie termnals are socketed. These members are of lower resistance Vthanr the heating bars, and

are preferably of a-similar composition, in

the proportions of about sixty per cent. (60%) of carbon to forty per cent. (40%) of clay. They may be united to the -terminals elements by a cement passage of the current carbonizes-.and forms an intimate and non-arcing junction. As shownin Fig. 2, the

the furnace; and the terminals 27 maybe supported against sagging under the weight of the bus-bars by bars 29 and insulated from .the carbon terminals and drawn inward by tie rods 30. .The bus-bars are bolted to the carbon terminals or` secured thereto in any desired manner said members`2 are embedded 1n and supported on the walls of bearing against The hearth-of the furnace is heated byother, similarhigh resistance elements 31, which are designed to supply just suicient heat to keep the reduced elements andthe metal are protected from each vother by linings already described.

eans are provided for utilizing the heat obtained from the carbon monoxide'escaping from the top of the furnace. To this end a space or shaft to recelve the gases as they pass from the top of the latter. This space connects by passa es 34. with a chamber or space 35 1ocatedeneath the hearth and containingsuitable checker work. Passages 36, 37`7'are provided for admitting air to leither or both of these spaces, so that the gases can be burned either around the shaft, to assist in heating the material therein, or below -the hearth to aid in keeping the molten metal Huid. Part or all of the air openings can be closed by suitable plugs 38.

metal fluid. These desired into av ladle 45.

Q5 heating these heaters may' be located at The gases are exhausted from the furnace as by afan or pump, indicated at 39, so the furnace operates under a pressure less than atmospheric. Thev gases 'can thus be y conveyed away and utilized. By virtue of this lowered pressure air will enter either of' thespaces 33, 35 to mix with the combustible gas, when the closures 38 are opened.

In operation the .material mixed with fluxes and carbon, as indicated, is charged into the top of the shaft and descends as the smelting proceeds. Approaching the top of the crossing wall 22 it enters a viscous zone where the heat is algeady fusing the ore, thence flows atY opposite sides of the wall and between the heating elements and under the intense heat there encountered melts and is reduced by the carbon, thev reduced metal finally collecting in the hearth. If the charge fed into the shaft contained a slight deficiency of carbon, this metal will be malleable iron. By properly proportioning the charge, steel can be obtained direct in the reducing furnace, more desirable to produce malleable iron or other metal and conduct it into a refining furnace, as already described, for further treatment. This furnace may be of an ordinary form, but it is distinguished by being heated by resistance conductors '40, 41, which are like the heating elements of the reducing furnace, and like them, are embedded in nonconducting walls, and kept from contact with' the metal, by linings 42.- As shown the sides and bottom of the rening hearth. The rening furnace being preferably circular, the heating element 40 is in the form of a ring having projections 43 at diametrically op.

positev polnts which are connectedto busbars 44 by members 28 similar to the members 28 already described. From the refinin'g furnace the metal may be drawn off as As indicated in Figs. of heat produced by the different resistance elements may -ice independently and relatively controlled. fo-rmer, and 51, 52 the two sides of the secondary circui The resistance conductors are represented as connected in parallel 1n this circuit, each being controllable by ay rheostat 53. y 54 desil ates a bus bar of the hearth resistance e ement 31.

What I claim as new is: 1. An electrical Vreduction furnace closed to theair and having an unobstructed shaft, free from partitions, a hearth, and a'fusing and reducing zone with non-conducting walls above the hearth and at the lower part of the shaft, the width of said zone being substantially as wide as the vwidest portion of the shaft, in combination with non-metallic bars of low conductivity at the sides tical walls extending but it is in many instancesv 1 and 2 the degrees 50 indicates a trans-l of said zone, -a low wall containing a nonmetallic heating conductor traversing said zone with wide non-bridging spaces between said conductors.

2. An electrical reduction furnace having a hearth, an unobstructed, unconstricted shaft, and a region above the hearth and aty the lower part of the shaft inclosed between substantiall vertical walls heated by resistance bars embedded therein. out of contact with the charge and traversed by one or more substantially vertical low walls similarly heated and spaced so. as to permit free passage of the' material.

3. An electrical reduction furnace havingia shaft which increases in width downwardly and terminates in substantially vertoward the hearth, the regionembraced bythe vertical walls being closed to the atmosphere and heated by non-metallic resistance bars at thesides thereof and also crossing it out of contact with and insulated from the charge and adapted 'to produce an intense heat on the passa e of electric current.

4. n electrical reduction furnace having an unobstructed shaft,- without partition Walls, a hearth provided with a resistance heater for maintaining the fluidity ofthe metal therein, and a zone of intense heat above the hearth andat the lower part of the shaft closed vto the access of air, said zone being provided with. separate non-metallic resistance heaters located in the walls of the furnace and arranged one above the other and adapted to produce differential heating effects.

5. An electrical reduction furnace having a flaring shaft, a hearth at the wide portion of the shaft, and a zoneof intense heat above the hearth and at the lower-part of the shaft closed to the access of air, said zone being heaters located in the walls thereof and arran ed one above the other and adapted to pro uce diderential heating effects.

6. An electrical reduction shaft furnace closed to the access of air and heated by resistance conductors adapted to yield internal heat on the passage of electric current, and means for conducting combustible gases from the topof the shaft downward around the shaft and burning. the same.

7. An electrical reduction shaft furnace heated by resistance conductors adapted to yield intense heat on passage of electric current, aspace surrounding the haftgi space beneath the furnace connected with the space around the shaft, means for supplying air for combustion to said spaces, and means for forcibly withdrawing the burned products from the latter space. f

8. Anelectrical reduction furnace closed to the access of air and heated by resistance conductors which yield intense heat on pasprovided with `separate resistancesae of electric current, ex austing the gases from the furnace, and means for admitting air to the gases drawn from the furnace and assist in the heating.

V9. In the reduction of iron, the combination of a reduction furnace closed to the access of air and comprising a shaft, a

hearth and a zone of intense heating above the hearth having non-arcing non-metallic resistance conductorsv out of contact with the charge, the molten the reduction furnace, said refining furnace being heated by similar resistance conductors out of contact with the molten metal.

means for forcibly burning themv to yance Vthanthe heating ,resistance than the terminal, the heating name to this specification, in and a refining furnace to which. metal flows from the hearth of 10. In an electric furnace, the combination of a non-metallic high resistance conductor or heating element, a low resistance supply terminal, and a separate intermediate connecting member of material of lower resistelement, and greater elementbeing socketed into and cemented to the said connecting member.

In testimony whereof, I havesigned my the presence of two'subscribing Witnesses.

- WILLIAM H. HAMPTON. Witnesses:

FREDERICK KUNz', Lem F. LIT'ILE. 

